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Description

Join UNSW Scientia Professor Rob Brooks at BeakerStreet@TMAG, a pop-up science bar at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery 18-20 August, as he waxes evolutionary on the endlessly complex and fascinating topic of sex. Tensions over sex, reproduction, and family living complicate our individual lives. They also reverberate through societies, disturbing the peace, moulding politics, and, ultimately, shaping history. Rob will introduce some ancient conflicts that have shaped sex throughout our evolution, and discuss some examples of how these conflicts make sex so complicated.

About the Speaker:Rob Brooks is Scientia Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Director of the Evolution & Ecology Research Centre at UNSW Sydney. He also leads UNSW Grand Challenges, the university’s major thought-leadership program. He is an expert on sexual conflict and sexual selection, and has won a number of research fellowships and prizes for both his research and his popular writing.

Brooks has studied many species, from insects and fish to mice and humans, and on problems from obesity to the evolution of ageing. In recent years, his research has spread into psychology, sociology and economics.

He is also a sought-after public speaker and an engaging author of popular science. His mission as a public intellectual is to entertain and interest people about the importance of evolutionary and ecological perspectives in understanding contemporary society and the lives people lead today. He brings subversive humour and a taste for popular culture to his writing.

Reviewers have noted the humanity that characterises his writing and his desire to use evolutionary ideas to make the world a better place. Instead of polarising evolutionary and ecological ideas from other bodies of knowledge, Brooks integrates concepts from psychology, sociology and economics in order to address pressing issues in modern life.

Brooks’ first book,Sex, Genes & Rock ’n’ Roll: How Evolution has Shaped the Modern Worldwon the 2012 Queensland Literary Award for Science Writing, Australia’s only major book prize for science. The Week magazine rated it as one of the two best Australian non-fiction books of 2011. It has also been published in North America, South Africa, and translated into Korean.

Brooks has written extensively for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Conversation (where his column “The Natural History of the Present” has over 2.4 million unique article views), and he has been published in COSMOS magazine, CNN Online, The Atlantic Online, The Huffington Post, Australian Financial Review, and ABC Science Online. For his book, his popular articles and his work on television and radio, Brooks won the prestigious 2013 Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Science Communication. Check him out at www.robbrooks.net.

About BeakerStreet@TMAG:BeakerStreet@TMAGis a pop-up science bar at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, 18-20 August - admission is free. Join us during the second weekend of National Science Week for three packed nights of intriguing short talks and hands-on workshops, live music, beer brewing Q&A, the 360 Cinema Dome, SCINEMA short films, a photography exhibition, storytelling, have a beer with a scientist, delicious local food and Tassie tipples, heaters and hot drinks in the courtyard, and more! Please arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the start of this talk to get a drink and find a seat - talks will start promptly at the advertised start time.

BeakerStreet@TMAG is free and open to the public but designed for an adult audience. Under-18s must be accompanied by an adult. Registration for talks is not required and does not guarantee a seat, but will be a great help to us (we're scientists and we like numbers). Registration for workshops is essential. For program details and more information, visit www.beakerstreet.com.auor get updates by clicking "Going" or "Interested" on ourfacebook event.